Bid to sell vehicles hired from rental services foiled.

Byline: Munawer Azeem

ISLAMABAD -- An attempt to sell vehicles hired from car rental services was foiled by one of the victims, who recognised his car.

According to police officials speaking on condition of anonymity, a company published a newspaper advertisement selling 36 Toyota Corollas.

The ad said that 20 2018 models, six 2016 models, four 2013 models and six 2008 models were on sale.

The 2018 automatic models were being sold for Rs2.2 million, the manual for Rs2.1m, the 2016 for Rs1.8m, the 2013 model for Rs1.3m and the 2008 model for Rs800,000. The ads attracted interest because the price of a 2018 model was Rs200,000 to Rs300,000 lower than market value.

They said people visited an office in G-15 that was listed in the ad and during one of the visits an individual identified his own car among the fleet.

The individual demanded that the staff at the office produce the car's documents, but they did not.

Later, some individuals posted on social media describing the activity as 'fraudulent'.

Local police were also informed, and they took eight of the vehicles into custody as well as the office's staff. The owner of the company in question had escaped. Upon learning of the incident, other rental car dealers also visited and recognised their vehicles.

Tarnol Station House Officer Inspector Arshad Ali told Dawn that the police arrested the office's staff, but they were later released on bail. He said efforts were ongoing to arrest the owner and a case would...